Media Center Memo
November 2013
NEW NONFICTION
City of the Dead: Galveston Hurricane
Our Country's Presidents: All You Need to Know about the Presidents
Why Do We Fight?: Conflict, War and Peace
Breakfast on Mars and Other 37 Delectable Essays
Scorpions: Strange and Wonderful
The Mystery of Darwin's Frog
How to Make a Universe with 92 Ingredients: An Electrifying Guide to the Elements
Kid Pickers: How to Turn Junk into Treasure
Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War
Have you thought about using historical fiction in your classroom? See below for synopsis!
Africa is My Home: A Child of the Amistad
Can you use EXCERPTS or artwork from this historical novel?
Historical Fiction
Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War
Anikwa and James, twelve years old in 1812, spend their days fishing, trapping, and exploring together in the forests of the Indiana Territory. To Anikwa and his family, members of the Miami tribe, this land has been home for centuries. As traders, James's family has ties to the Miami community as well as to the American soldiers in the fort. Now tensions are rising—the British and American armies prepare to meet at Fort Wayne for a crucial battle, and Native Americans from surrounding tribes gather in Kekionga to protect their homeland. After trading stops and precious commodities, like salt, are withheld, the fort comes under siege, and war ravages the land. James and Anikwa, like everyone around them, must decide where their deepest loyalties lie. Can their families—and their friendship—survive?
In Salt, Printz Honor author Helen Frost offers a compelling look at a difficult time in history. (from Titlewave)
Africa is My Home: A Child of the Amistad
Inspired by a true account, here is the compelling story of a child who arrives in America on the slave ship Amistad —and eventually makes her way home to Africa. When a drought hits her homeland in Sierra Leone, nine-year-old Magulu is sold as a pawn by her father in exchange for rice. But before she can work off her debt, an unthinkable chain of events unfolds: a capture by slave traders; weeks in a dark and airless hold; a landing in Cuba, where she and three other children are sold and taken aboard the Amistad; a mutiny aboard ship; a trial in New Haven that eventually goes all the way to the Supreme Court and is argued in the Africans' favor by John Quincy Adams. Narrated in a remarkable first-person voice, this fictionalized book of memories of a real-life figure retells history through the eyes of a child — from seeing mirrors for the first time and struggling with laughably complicated clothing to longing for family and a home she never forgets. Lush, full-color illustrations by Robert Byrd, plus archival photographs and documents, bring an extraordinary journey to life. (from Titlewave)
Media Monday
Come during your lunch to learn about setting up an Animoto for Education account. You can set up accounts for students and they can create online videos! Check your email later for recent examples from our fall book club! Oh, and not that this matters, but peanut butter brownies will be available. :)